Item 2.Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations.
Unless the context otherwise requires, all references in this report to “Arch”, “we”, “us”, or “our” are to Arch Resources, Inc. and its subsidiaries.
Cautionary Notice Regarding Forward-Looking Statements
This report contains “forward-looking statements” - that is, statements related to future, not past, events. In this context, forward-looking statements often address our expected future business and financial performance, and often contain words such as “should,” “appears,” “expects,” “anticipates,” “intends,” “plans,” “believes,” “seeks,” or “will.” Forward-looking statements by their nature address matters that are, to different degrees, uncertain. For us, particular uncertainties arise from the COVID-19 pandemic, including its adverse effects on businesses, economies, and financial markets worldwide; from the impact of COVID-19 on efficiency, costs and production; from changes in the demand for our coal by the steel production and electricity generation industries; from our ability to access the capital markets on acceptable terms and conditions; from policy, legislation and regulations relating to the Clean Air Act, greenhouse gas emissions, incentives for alternative energy sources, and other environmental initiatives; from competition within our industry and with producers of competing energy sources; from our ability to successfully acquire or develop coal reserves, including the integration of our Leer South mine and its ramp up to full production levels; from operational, geological, permit, labor, transportation, and weather-related factors; from the effects of foreign and domestic trade policies, actions or disputes; from fluctuations in the amount of cash we generate from operations, which could impact, among other things, our ability to service our outstanding indebtedness and fund capital expenditures; from our ability to successfully integrate the operations that we acquire; from our ability to generate significant revenue to make payments required by, and to comply with restrictions related to, our indebtedness, including our ability to repurchase our Convertible Notes; from additional demands for credit support by third parties; from the loss of, or significant reduction in, purchases by our largest customers; from the development of future technology to replace coal with hydrogen in the steelmaking process; and from numerous other matters of national, regional and global scale, including those of a political, economic, business, competitive or regulatory nature. These uncertainties may cause our actual future results to be materially different than those expressed in our forward-looking statements. We do not undertake to update our forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as may be required by law. For a description of some of the risks and uncertainties that may affect our future results, you should see the “Risk Factors” in Item 1A of our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2020 and subsequent Form 10-Q filings.
COVID-19
In the first quarter of 2020, COVID-19 emerged as a global pandemic. The continuing responses to the COVID-19 outbreak include actions that have a significant impact on domestic and global economies, including travel restrictions, gathering bans, stay at home orders, and many other restrictive measures. All of our operations have been classified as essential in the states in which we operate. We instituted many policies and procedures, in alignment with CDC guidelines along with state and local mandates, to protect our employees during the COVID-19 outbreak. These policies and procedures included, but were not limited to, staggering shift times to limit the number of people in common areas at one time, limiting meetings and meeting sizes, continual cleaning and disinfecting of high touch and high traffic areas, including door handles, bathrooms, bathhouses, access elevators, mining equipment, and other areas, limiting contractor access to our properties, limiting business travel, and instituting work from home for administrative employees. During the third quarter of 2021, vaccination rates among our workforce began to level off in alignment with national and local trends. Furthermore, with the advent of the Delta variant, infection rates among our workforce increased at certain operations, in alignment with national and local trends, and we reinstated stricter protocols at these operations. During the third quarter of 2021, over thirty unit production shifts in our metallurgical segment were adversely impacted by staffing shortfalls related to increased COVID-19 case rates, and our requisite quarantine protocols. We continue to encourage vaccination among our workforce and adjust our COVID-19 responses. We continually evaluate our policies and procedures, in accordance with CDC, state, and local guidelines, and make any necessary adjustments to respond to the particular circumstances in the areas in which we operate.